Gearbox Pro Line Review

I don’t even have words for what Gearbox has managed to create with this new Pro series. If you guys ever have watched my channel, you know that I have been a big critic of Gearbox and the performance of their paddles. They’ve always had the most durable paddles in Pickleball, but the performance was subpar and most polymer paddles were preferred by the market.

Well, that all changes today because Gearbox may have just broke the Pickleball paddle market with this release.

Specs:

Price: $274.99
Thickness: 14mm
Core: Carbon fiber (SST)
Face: Raw carbon fiber
Shape:
- Elongated (16.5x7.4”)
- Fusion: (16.0x7.4”)
Handle: 5.5”
Grip: 4.0”
Weight: 8.0oz
Swing weight:
- Power Elongated: 119
- Control elongated: 120
- Power Fusion: 110
- Control Fusion: 112
Twist weight: 5-5.1 (low)
Spin RPM: ~2000 RPM across all models
Warranty: 1 year

Purchase the Gearbox Pro (direct)

Purchase the Gearbox Pro (JustPaddles)

There are 4 models in the new Pro line. They have the Pro Elongated paddles which come in a power and a control model and then they have the Fusion which is a new shape that Gearbox is experimenting with. Instead of making a standard shaped paddle, Gearbox opted to take an elongated paddle and remove half an inch from the head without adding anything to the width. We’ll talk more about that in a second. The Fusion also comes in a control and power model as well.

I have to say, I am so glad to see that Gearbox is finally using a raw carbon fiber face. For the longest time Gearbox insisted that they didn’t need a rough surface to get good spin, but I always disagreed with that. While grit is not the only factor that goes into getting great spin, I do think it’s an important part of the equation and it’s very clear now that Gearbox is using it, how powerful the SST core+a raw carbon fiber face combo can be. All of the models I received tested in the 2000 RPM range which is in the elite tier for spin in Pickleball right now.

Of course, we can’t do a Gearbox review without talking about their incredible durability. Gearbox has always been in a class of their own when it comes to durable Pickleball paddles. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Gearbox is one of the only companies I believe that can effectively charge as high as they do for Pickleball paddles because they actually last a really long time. Their cores aren’t made of polymer so they don’t go dead the same way, and a lot of the spin has come from the core in the past so the grit wasn’t a massive deal. Now that Gearbox is using a raw carbon fiber face, it’s much more likely that the grit of the paddle will wear off before anything else on the paddle breaks.

Their quality control for weight has been absolutely exceptional. Most companies in Pickleball you can expect to have a wide variance, Gearbox has always been dead on or within 0.1oz of the advertised weight.

Note:

For reference, I am going to be primarily focusing on the Gearbox Pro Power Elongated model, because in my opinion, of the 4 new paddles, this one absolutely takes the cake and is the most impressive and different paddle of the 4. I will be talking about the others later in the video, but this is the one that I think everyone will have their eye on.

Power:

Paddles have been getting more and more powerful. We’ve experienced thermoforming, EVA foam, and core crushed paddles. All of these have been a step above when it comes to power and only one of those have been legal.

Well, the new Gearbox Pro Power Elongated literally hits at the speed of EVA foam, but it’s legal. In John Kews speed tests he clocks the EVA foam paddles between 58 and 59 miles per hour. I tested my Gearbox Pro Power and it came in at 57 MPH.

For your own reference, the CRBN1X 14mm was 55MPH, the Engage Pursuit MX 6.0 was 54, and the Six Zero Double Black Diamond was 51MPH.

Tests are great and all, but when I really realized how hard this paddle hits when everyone I played with would always ask me after my first drive or overhead if the paddle was delaminated. I cannot tell you guys how many people were flinching at me hitting an overhead, a drive, or just asking what on earth is wrong with my paddle. During my testing of paddles this year, I have never had more people ask me about a paddle than I have this Gearbox.

Serves were another area where I don’t know if I’ve experienced more free points from any other paddle. There would be games where I would rattle off 3-4 serves in a row that weren’t returned properly. The spin and speed off of the serves is huge.

Gearboxes previous power models have always been pretty mediocre for power, but the new Pro Power truly earns the title of a power paddle.

Not only does it hit hard from the baseline, but even at the net the pop off of the face is really intense. I can’t count how many times I put a ball in someones chest because they weren’t expecting it to come off the fast so fast. Check out this section of the video for a detailed analysis

I cannot emphasize enough to you guys that this paddle is probably the hardest hitting legal paddle in Pickleball. Gearbox sells protective eyewear and you might want to buy a few pairs just to offer to your opponents when you play them.

Control:

Now, here’s the wild part. Usually when you have a paddle with the characteristics that I just described, the control suffers significantly. That’s not the case with this paddle.

Now sure, if you put it up against an extremely control oriented paddle like a Selkirk Labs 003, or Ronbus R1.16 it’s not going to be able to reset quite like those.

But It somehow manages to have very solid touch despite being one of the hardest hitting paddles I’ve ever used.

With that being said, expect there to be an adjustment period to get used to the control of this paddle. Especially if you aren’t coming from a powerful thermoformed paddle.

The paddle has this firmer plush feel that isn’t as jarring as some of the stiff thermoformed paddles. It made me feel really in control of my dinks. The area I noticed having a harder time was in resets. If you watch the review you’ll see there are two clips of me using the Gearbox Pro Power and then the Gearbox Pro Control, it’s very clear that my resets are much more solid and unattackable on the Control. You really have to loosen up your hands on the Pro Power to get the same type of reset.

Singles:

I don’t often mention singles in my reviews, but the Gearbox Pro Power Elongated is worth talking about. With it’s extreme amounts of power, high spin, and still reasonable touch, I think it’s one of the most elite singles paddles you can buy right now. The spin and power allow for ridiculous passing shots.

Feel:

I really wonder if Gearbox is using any type of EVA foam in the Pro Power, because it has a lot of similarities to the feel of an EVA paddle. They make similar sounds, the feel in the sweet spot rebounds like EVA, and when you rip it, the dwell time feels huge. It feels like a subdued version of EVA for a tournament paddle.

It has a very bouncy feel when you hit the center which is not a trait that prior Gearboxes have had.

I think this is the closest Gearbox to feeling like a polymer paddle, and at least for myself, the the pro power might even feel better than a lot of polymer paddles I’ve used to date.

Sound:

The Pro Power is very quiet. I don’t think I would go as quiet as EVA foam, but when you hit it, the sound that it makes isn’t as loud or poppy as other power paddles and I think that catches people off guard. This is actually something that Gearbox even puts in their marketing.

They call it Quiet Tech Sound Technology. Which, really quick, really? Quiet tech, sound, technology? That title feels redundant. Anyways, Gearbox claims that this technology creates a lower decibel, lower frequency sound, and in my experience I would agree with this. It’s certainly not silent, but I think you will catch people off guard the first few times you play against them with this paddle.

Gearbox Control Elongated:

While I did prefer the elongated pro power, I do want to give you my thoughts on the Pro Control as well.

The best way I can describe the the elongated control is much, much more dense and stiff feeling. The Pro Power feels very bouncy and launches balls, and the Pro Control feels like it effortlessly stops the ball. I had an absolute breeze resetting with the elongated. If you watch the footage on screen, you can see how much better my resets were on this version.

The feel reminds me much more of older Gearboxes where it’s stiff and feels a bit like a board. What changed to me is that it’s more dense feeling, but this one feels much closer to the older models than the Pro Power does.

Everything related to the soft game was very easy. But of course, you can expect that the power went down, and man, do you lose a significant amount of power. Hand battles feel so much more difficult to get ahead in. If you can generate your own power, then the Pro Control is awesome. But as someone who has a hard time generating power, this was the deal breaker for me.

I didn’t find the pro control to be a tolerable paddle until I added the lead. In fact, it took me multiple sessions to start using it because every time I picked it up, I wanted to put it back down. The lead played a very big roll in making this paddle something that was enjoyable to use. Off center shots were not very forgiving and it was very, very obvious when you missed the sweet spot.

Sweet spot:

All of the new Gearboxes still have incredibly low twist weights. They fall into the top 15 lowest paddles I’ve ever tested.

What was surprising is that the sweet spot felt drastically improved from prior Gearbox paddles. Despite this, I still highly recommend lead tape. I don’t believe this paddle hits full potential until you add lead tape to it.

The paddle still twists in my hand without lead and the edges feel vary jarring. Specifically on the control models. The sweet spots on the power models felt better to me. So, out of the box, don’t expect great sweet spot performance. This was a consistent gripe for me in my early testing of the paddle.

The Fusion shapes had the worst sweet spot in my opinion. I never found a time where it didn’t feel like I was hitting a bad spot on the paddle. The sweet spots of the Fusions reminded me much more of older Gearboxes were I never felt confident that it was going to feel good

Fusion shape:

Let’s talk about the new Fusion shape. Gearbox decided to try something new by not increasing the width of their paddles from an elongated paddle, but instead removing the half inch from the top. This creates a narrow standard shaped paddle.

To be completely honest with you, I don’t like this shape. I found the sweet spot to feel worse than the elongated versions and was consistently frustrated by the ball dying. Adding lead tape improved this drastically, but it wasn’t enough to make me prefer it over the elongated.

The benefit that you gain on the Fusion models is the faster hand speed since it’s shorter. Which, if you watch my channel, you know I care a lot about those lower swing weights for my hand speed. However, I felt the elongated versions played so much better that I would gladly put up with the slower hand speed to have the better sweet spot and power.

So, my thought is that you get some of the cons of elongated without the pros of a standard shaped paddle. As someone who has really started to enjoy standard shaped paddles, the Fusion was a pretty big let down to me.

I love when companies try something new, but I really, really wish Gearbox had also offered a standard shape option. I’m sure the sweet spot would have been incredible and combined with faster hands would have been a completely killer option. I hope Gearbox will consider releasing that shape in the future.

Lead tape:

So, the sweet spot isn’t great out of the box, but lead tape does drastically improve it and mostly makes me stop thinking about the issue. On the power model a friend of mine added lead at the throat and as soon as he did this, it took the paddle from “Dang this is really good” to “Holy crap I can’t put this thing down”.

I have no complaints about the sweet spot with this setup. On the power model I did briefly experiment with some lead at the head to help with what felt like a more dead area on the paddle, but I found that it was just waaaaaay too much power and resets became unmanageable for me.

For the elongated Control, I added four 3 gram strips to the side and this made the paddle feel more solid and less jarring with the sweet spot. The paddle became significantly more usable for me, but still didn’t have the put away power that I wanted.

On the Fusions, I tried adding lead at the throat and the head since there was more swing weight to work with, and no amount of lead got either of these to a place that I was fully satisfied with. The elongated versions have been strictly better in every regard for my play except for hand speed.

Closing thoughts:

So, to summarize my thoughts, I thought the Fusions were not worth trying. I don’t think everyone will have the same experience as me, but I was completely content leaving the Fusions alone. I couldn’t find any setup that made me think they were advantageous over the elongated versions, and that comes from someone who cares deeply about hand speed and doesn’t tend to like high swing weight paddles.

When it came to the elongated paddles, the power was the most exciting by a long shot. I think the control is a great paddle and I loved my resets and blocks with it, but it didn’t strike me as anything exciting. If you’re a player who can generate a ton of power with your body, you might love that one, but I can’t and didn’t prefer it. If you didn’t like Gearbox in the past, I think it’s highly unlikely that you’ll enjoy the control model.

Now, when it comes to the power version, this is a paddle that I think everyone should try. Especially if you can try it with the lead setup that I recommend. I have never seen a paddle get more reactions on court than I have this Gearbox.

Several pros messaged me asking how on earth it could even be legal after they tried it, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if this became one of the most challenged paddles in Pickleball. The only issue is that Gearbox needs more high level players actually using their gear, and this paddle might finally be the one to sway some good players.

With how hard this thing hits, I truly wonder how it’s legal. In fact, part of me wonders if it’s even good for a paddle to hit this hard. Being on the other side of this Gearbox when an overhead goes up or playing against a truly skilled banger is terrifying when they have the Gearbox Pro Power.

You guys know how much I love my Six Zero Double Black Diamond. It’s been my favorite paddle for the majority of this year, and for good reason. I think it’s one of the best you can buy right now, and this Gearbox is the first paddle to truly make me consider switching from it. There’s been plenty of really good paddles this year, but none were that this tempting to switch from.

The only thing that has me debating whether I’ll switch is my resets, but I think I can dial those in with a little bit more time.

I didn’t think I would ever be talking about switching to a Gearbox paddle, so that should tell you how good I think this paddle is.

Gearboxes issue has always been that their paddles were subpar for the technology that they were offering, and this is the first time that I think Gearbox truly has an elite paddle combined with their innovative design features.

So yes, I can highly recommend this paddle and I would call it Pickleball Studio approved.

Purchase the Gearbox Pro